


Eventually

by iLurked



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Import from Tumblr, Written pre 1x16
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-15
Updated: 2014-03-15
Packaged: 2018-01-19 11:14:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1467457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iLurked/pseuds/iLurked
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their time would arrive, eventually.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eventually

He had never seen her broken before.

He watched her as she sat motionless in the kitchen, lost in thought, hunched over herself. Her eyes were red and unfocused, signs that she had been crying. The bags under her eyes were stark against her pale skin. The weight she lost over the past week was pronounced. She had always been tiny, but she seemed larger because of her big smile and bigger brain (that seemed directly connected to her mouth); but she had never been small. Until now.

His fist clenched.

Once again, he was powerless to fight her demons for her. Worse, he knew he could have saved her from pain, but he failed to do so.

He was annoyed that she stood up to escape when he entered the kitchen. He knew that he was not the first person one thought of when one needed comforting; but he thought he and Jemma had gotten close enough the past year to be considered as friends.

"Sit down,” he commanded.

After a moment’s hesitation, she did what she was told.

Ward gave Jemma a look warning her to stay or he’d come after her. Satisfied that she’d stay put, Ward rummaged around the tiny kitchen.

He turned back to her and all but slammed a container on the table. Two spoons followed.

“Ben and Jerry’s?” for a too-short moment, a familiar spark appeared in Jemma’s eyes. He would have missed it had he not been scrutinising her closely.

“It’s Karamel Sutra,” he read the label. “Fitz and I did our research. It’s created for situations like this. It’s supposed to be salty like your tears and sweet like your memories.”

Ward considered it a huge victory when a corner of Jemma’s mouth lifted a fraction.

Encouraged, he opened the tub and handed a spoon to Jemma. He kept the other one and dug in straight from the container.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked after Jemma swallowed a bite.

He remembered a little over a year ago when she asked him that very same question. Suffering from the double whammy of having been dumped by May and mind-fucked and sexually assaulted by that Asgardian bitch, Ward only shook his head in reply. Undaunted, Jemma shrugged and brought out a bottle of expensive scotch that she and Fitz were saving for a rainy day. She poured for both of them before proceeding to drink him under the table.

She had saved him that night (and every night since) from doing something incredibly stupid.

Now, it was his turn to save her.

He waited patiently until finally, she muttered, “Trust me to fall for an evil megalomaniac, right?”

Ward winced, but Jemma was too immersed in self-pity to notice.

It took him a long while to lick his own invisible wounds, and Jemma was with him the entire time, just as she was there to heal his physical ones. Unfortunately, by the time he was ready to move on, by the time he admitted to himself that he had fallen in love, for real this time, Jemma was swept off her feet by a rich, smooth-talking politician who was on the fast-track to becoming the next president of the United States. A gorgeous man who was later revealed to be the Clairvoyant.

“I can’t believe I was so blind,” she sniffed, struggling desperately to keep her emotions under control. The Clairvoyant, after setting in motion a series of events that ensured that Jemma would learn not only the secret behind the super soldiers, but of Coulson’s resurrection as well, began the final phase of his plan: acquiring control of the biochemist.

“He tricked everyone: Director Fury, Agent Hand, even Coulson and May.”

“He was never able hoodwink you. Or Fitz.” Jemma looked down, swirling her spoon absently in the ice cream container. “The two of you warned me that he’s too good to be true. I should have listened.” 

He couldn’t tell her that his suspicion of the man stemmed not from evidence or even intuition; it was because of her. He didn’t trust the man because he was the one Jemma loved, just as he would hate and mistrust the any man who would have Jemma’s heart.

He couldn’t tell her that—yet. (Now was not the right time.)

So he told her instead, “But he didn’t trick you for long, did he? Thanks to you, the Clairvoyant was finally exposed for who he was. Because you became suspicious of him, we were able to gather intelligence and to piece together the clues just in time to unravel his schemes and save the world.”

Slowly, tentatively, Ward reached for Jemma’s hand. He made a conscious effort to ignore the ostentatious diamond ring on her finger. He must not have been successful because Jemma sighed and withdrew her hand.

She bit her lip and slowly removed her engagement ring. She placed the offending item on the table. She looked at it for a long minute before standing up. “Thanks for the ice cream, Grant.”

“Jemma?” 

She paused at the threshold of the kitchen and turned back to him.

He might not have vocalised his feelings (yet, he once again promised himself), but he knew she saw the promise in his eyes. (Soon, when she was ready. He’d tell her.)

“I’ll be okay.” she promised him with a small smile.

And he will be right there, helping her; waiting for her.

Their time would arrive eventually.


End file.
